1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to air conditioning units which are adapted to dispose of condensate by a slinger means. More specifically the present invention relates to apparatus for providing a curvilinear baffle having a splash surface to quietly receive condensate from the slinger.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Air conditioning units and especially the so-called self contained or room air conditioning units commonly used for residential applications generally include refrigeration circuits having an evaporator and a condenser. The air conditioning unit is usually divided by a partition into an evaporator section and a condenser section. The evaporation section is conventionally mounted to communicate with the air of the room which is to be supplied with conditioned air and the condenser section is usually mounted to communicate with the outside air for the discharge of heat. Contained within the evaporator section are an evaporator coil and an evaporator fan. Contained within the condenser section are a condenser coil and a condenser fan.
Refrigerant flows by means of a conventional circuit through the evaporator coil where it expands absorbing heat from the air flowing over it. The evaporator operates at a lower temperature than the room air being directed over the evaporator coil causing the air to be cooled. Since the temperature of the evaporator coil is normally below the dew point of air flowing thereover condensate forms on the evaporator coil surfaces.
The refrigeration circuit further includes the condenser coil. The refrigerant enters the condenser coil from the compressor at a high temperature in the form of refrigerant gas and discharges much of its heat to the outside air passing over the condenser coil so that the temperature of the refrigerant is greatly reduced and it leaves the condenser coil primarily in liquid form.
It has been determined that the condenser coil will be more efficient if in addition to the air passing thereover the condensate collected from the evaporator coil is also sprayed into the condenser coil. A slinger adapted to the condenser fan lifts the condensate into the condenser fan airstream where it is blown into the condenser coil and evaporated. This apparatus also serves to rid the unit of unwanted condensate. The use of a slinger is known and is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 3,766,751 assigned to the assignee hereof.
In order to build less noisy air conditioning units it has been necessary to reduce the rate of rotation of the condenser and evaporator fans. Once this is done the condensate thrown by the slinger strikes the interior parts of the unit and causes undesirable noise. The present invention provides a curvilinear baffle having an annular splash surface as part of the condenser fan shroud. The splash surface is closely fitted to the slinger so the condensate strikes the splash surface at an acute angle reducing the noise previously caused by the impact of the condensate with the adjacent surface, either the wrapper or a fan shroud surface. Previous air conditioning units have employed fan shrouds on which the condensate has impinged. However, these previous fan shrouds neither contain a curvilinear baffle having a splash surface nor were they designed to reduce condensate noise by the provision of such a surface.